Keith Browning

A DTS website fan emailed me a question about a trivia question he could not find the answer to. I thought it was an interesting question and thought somebody here might know the answer. I believe he wants to know what engine was popularly used to repower ford light duty trucks before the 6.9L was introduced. Here is the question:

The answer is NO! and it should also not be run at this point. DEF is very corrosive and will quickly damage the fuel system. The ENTIRE fuel system on the engine needs to be replaced along with the fuel pump on the rail. The fuel tank must be removed, cleaned and dried. There are several topics here in this section on this problem. Also be aware that there is a service kit that contains all of the engine fuel system parts in one box. I repaired one truck that blew the engine because the high pressure fuel pump seized while it was being driven...... we have quite a few pictures of these failed parts too. And, many insurance companies cover this kind of mistake/stupidity.

Um, Bulletin Q108 is the one you want. It explains the SEIC functions in great detail including parameters, acronyms, circuits and there is a handy dandy little chart with resistor values for this feature. Q108.pdf

I have observed this behavior over the years - a newer vehicle say 2008 and up with charging system concerns and excessively high voltage that causes modules to shut down. I am sure others have seen this too. The voltage on my current victim is just shy of 18 volts. I lose the cluster, SAT radio, and power seats along with about 20 codes in total... mostly network and system voltage related. It's funny how I have never seen this documented anywhere or am I missing it?

Nice post and pictures! This type of failure is not something we are used to seeing with our (power Stroke) engines. I personally haven't seen either symptom you have discovered here on this engine - just a few valve related failures and one fuel system take out an engine.

Which chafe point? There seems to be two!

By the way, the spec on that gap for all Power Stroke Engines is 10/32nd's of a mm

Including castration for the truly stupid?

Not me! But, it's a MUST HAVE tool for that new bright-eyed and enthusiastic apprentice in the shop. And that young new tool saleman whom has never turned a wrench will be more than eager to locate one for you even though it's not in the catalog. Also, it is something you can trust the wife to "swing by the parts store" for you and pick up. (you know, the store you frequent and know all the guys by first name) Yup. Tell her to have them order one if they don't stock it.

Fuckin stealerships suck don't they?

Anyone know where I can get one?

What the employee did was deplorable. The dealer, regardless of who is liable in the end should make it right to the customer. Period. When my dealer had a truck go up in flames on a lift in our shop a few years back, the dealership GAVE the man a brand new truck like the one that was destroyed. The original was at least three years old as I recall.

I posted an article on this today. http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles.html/_/dtsarticles/uv-dye-agnosis-r44 Feel free to read it as it expands on this topic as we have yet to mention the safety aspects of finding leaks on high pressure fuel systems. Also if there are any good points to add to the article that are not there please mention them and I will add them as needed!

The two main causes for cracked and broken flex plates are excessive crankshaft end play and missing engine to transmission alignment dowels.

I am thinking that swiping snow in the other direction forces snow into the cowl and or the HVAC fresh air inlet?

I thought I had seen some pretty impressive evidence of neglect in my time but this one is right near the top. A 2008 6.4L with 178,000 miles (5687 hours) that I just pulled out FF (First Fit) fuel filters with a date code of September 29, 2006. NICE! It was brought in for stalling and then crank no start when the temperatures were in the teens. I suspect the fuel was starting to gel up but if that had not happened I am scared to think how much farther it would have gone?

That would explain it!

I have always been a big fan of finding new uses for tools and chemicals or multitasking things. I have mentioned before that using UV dye in fuel system to find leaks is damn effective and works well on any engine. The technique requires adding a 3oz bottle of UV Leak Tracer dye for OIL BASED fluids directly into the fuel filter and running the engine long enough to mix and circulate the dye into the system. Access whatever part of the fuel system you want to inspect and shine your UV light onto the suspect components. Here is a 6.4L injector leaking near the top at the body nut. This is not the first one I have seen leaking here but this is the first one I have been able to photograph. I think this is neat so I thought I would share. I have another picture in the Gallery showing another 6.4L injector leaking at the inlet fitting.

I just find that scenario very odd as the gasket is a seal that is in a channel in the cover and the cover mates flush with the block. So the seal really gas no way to escape the channel AND since oil is under pressure and not vacuum how exactly does the material end uo in the reservior? Only thing that comes to mind is if the gasket is different in some way or is not installed properly by not being seated into the channel. I guess we would need to see one...

Yeah, this SSM seems like it is wayyyyyyy out there. How the hell would the seal materia from a good seal end up in the oil and pass the HPOP filter screen anyway? Seems like if the seal failed then there would be a huge oil leak that would get someone's attention. I guess there is some type of seal out there that most of us have yet to come across. I too have only seen the old back seals and the newer blue seals.

I recently had a 2011 with a similar issue that had wires chafed under the drivers door sill trim where it overlays he kick panel trim - another place for you to look. Here is a link to the topic ---> http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/topic/5208-network-issues-intermittent/

And they keep coming in D.O.A.

Well for us in NJ when the temperature approaches 0*F is when I begin to see problems so it seems very wise to advise customers to use a good fuel additive when the temps are forecast to drop below 10*F or lower. It's not every truck here either so I also assume fuel can differ from supplier to supplier too. Probably the best explanation.

This topic was somewhat timely for me. Today alone 4 trucks towed in. One tow truck driver commented that was all he was doing today - recovering trucks that stopped running presumable due to fuel gelling issues. so at this point I have two questions to raise for discussion: Is "winter blended" fuel different in on one geographical region than another? In other words, is the winter blend fuel in NJ different than the winter fuel that is supplied in Alberta for example? I have always wondered this and suspected that there is a difference and I know that the answer is yes but as I read I see that there are even different ways of blending fuels for use in different locations and to varying specifications. Does the "wind chill effect" have any affect on fuel? Particularly in a moving vehicle. I can find discussions on this topic however and the answer is based on common sense if you know what the "wind chill factor" actually is.

Been seeing a lot of P0087 and P008a codes with reduced power warnings and check engine lights. Some, just dirty filters at around 10,000 miles. A few rusted fuel tanks, same low mileage. Today I had one that was gelled up @ 0-degrees running ULSD. Here is the filter.